


Soul Mates

by RaychelRay



Category: Brave (2012), Disney - All Media Types, Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Just good ol' fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 10:35:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11667378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaychelRay/pseuds/RaychelRay
Summary: The war against the Troll Uprising is over and Merida stands victorious with her allied forces. However, after the dust settles and the celebration begins, Merida only has one worry...did Mac make it?





	Soul Mates

**Author's Note:**

> “Maybe soulmates are just two ordinary people who are too stubborn to let the world pull them apart”

“Ye were magnificent yer majesty!”

“Heard the lass defeated that disgustin’ savage wi’ just one arrow between the eyes!”

“As fearsome as The Bear King had been!”

“Long live the Queen!”

Merida gave a small smile to these passing comments made by her comrades as she continued to walk through the triumphant army’s camp.

After a month of fighting several small battles against the Troll uprising that had decided to move from Misthaven and stupidly claim DunBroch as their new home, they had finally won the war. Merida had responded to the threat in every way her wise father had taught her. She had called upon her banner men, inspired them to follow her to battle as her warriors, stood at the very front of the army on the battlefield, courageously vowed to lay down her own life to ensure the Kingdom’s future, and ultimately ended up killing the proclaimed “Troll King” herself.

In all aspects, she was a hero.

She didn’t feel very heroic though. Her skin was caked in mud and dried blood, her hair was matted down with twigs and leaves stuck in it, and her muscles screamed in agony. Her soldiers matched her in every way in terms of looks as they all drowned themselves in barrels of celebratory mead. Though some looked more solemn than others, most likely from either losing a friend and/or family member forever on the field or from the trauma of being in their first battle or maybe even both. Merida could sympathize. It was never easy being the survivor, knowing that you would go home to people congratulating you, even though they never saw what you saw. It was even worse if you had to look in the eye of a family member or a friend and tell that a person they loved was dead.

Something horrifying then seized her heart.

What if **he** hadn’t made it?

They had gotten separated when they made it to the bridge over a great river. He had come in to defend her against a particularly large and gruesome troll (no doubt the King’s best soldier) allowing her cross the bridge and come face-to-face with the King. That troll had been nearly twice the size of him though, with human skulls decorating his armor and carried a war hammer that oozed with death and darkness. Merida had wanted to stay and fight at his side (like they had done many times now), but he assured her that he could handle this brute while she went to deal with their main threat. By the time she returned with the Troll King’s head to proclaim their victory, he was nowhere to be seen.

Merida felt as her chest constricted more and her eyes darted furiously around the camp. She mind suddenly flashed to last night after the final war council meeting. The two had stayed behind under the guise of last minute planning, but as soon as the last person exited the tent, Merida had pulled him in for a kiss to soothe any frayed nerves she still had. When they pulled apart, he immediately made her promise that she would come back to him. She responded with a smile and assured him that it would take more than a few ugly trolls to get rid of her.

It was only now though that she realized that she never made him promise to come back to her as well. And Merida knew from experience that it only took one uncoordinated step, one false move, or even one sneaky blade to the back and that was it. She could have very well have lost him just like she had lost her father.

Merida’s heart practically leaped into her throat then when she finally caught sight of the still living and breathing Cothric Macintosh.

He looked like hell, just like all of them, with his hair stuck to his dirty face and blue woad smeared all over his arm. Not to mention his other arm was getting bandaged up by another Macintosh member to cover up the horribly deep and angry looking wound that would definitely leave behind a large scar. But so long as his heart was still beating and he had air in his lungs, she could care less. Especially when he finally caught sight of her too, and had a genuinely relieved and tender smile appear on his face.

Merida hardly noticed as her body began to unconsciously move towards him at a rapid pace with her heart thumping wildly in her chest now. Everything in Merida screamed for her to stop, to simply give a nod and say a snide remark, to wait until tonight and they were alone to enjoy their victory. It was her after all that said they should keep their now six-month courtship a secret still while she got used to being a proper ruler. She was after all only 2 years into her reign.

But seeing him like this, knowing that there would still be days, hopefully years, for them to keep holding each other, to keep making memories together, and to keep planning a future together…it completely overrode any logical reason she could have thought of.

It overrode her mind so much so that when she finally was finally close enough to Mac, she automatically threw her arms around his neck and pressed a hard and assertive kiss to his lips. He stiffened briefly, no doubt contemplating pushing her away, he was all about treating her with the utmost respect, especially in front of her fellow clansmen. Though when Merida bit his bottom lip roughly, it was one battle Mac lost instantly as his good arm wrapped tightly around her waist and the other tangled itself in her hair. He even lifted her up just enough to force her to stand on her tiptoes to still reach him. 

Any exhaustion and pain Merida felt, whether it was physical or emotional, melted away as they both tilted their heads to deepen the kiss. Their bodies were now pressed so close together that not even a sword blade could fit between them.

When Merida would recall this memory later, she would remember feeling the hundreds of eyes on them, with a mixture of harsh whispering and wolf-whistles filling the air. In the moment though as they broke apart and pressed their foreheads together, all she could think about was him and her.

“I thought…for a second I…” Merida couldn’t even say the words now.

Mac just smiled though and placed a far more gentle kiss on her lips, “It’s goin’ tae take a lot more than a few ugly trolls to get rid of me yer majesty.”

Merida laughed softly as she moved her hands up to cup his face, “I’m goin’ tae hold ye to that Lord Macintosh.”

“Ye can hold it to me for the rest of my life,” Mac said boldly as he initiated the next move this time, and gave her a bruising kiss with his fingers imbedding themselves deeply into her skin. Merida responded just as enthusiastically though as one hand tightly gripped his plaid, as if to anchor him in place, and more importantly, to anchor him to her.

Over their lifetime of knowing each other, Merida had almost lost Mac to magic, pride, his own darkness, and now at the hands of a vicious monster. Yet at the end of it all, they had always come back together, stronger than before. But Merida didn’t want to tempt fate anymore. She wanted to assure him, herself, and the rest of the world that this was the man she loved and the man she wanted by her side for the rest of her life.

And while there would certainly always be dangerous foes and naysayers that would try and tear them apart, it would all be for not, as nothing could destroy the deep bond that these two stubborn highlanders had mended together.


End file.
